Kids return to class as noise dies down

January 11, 2002|By Lori Olszewski, Tribune staff reporter.

Students who had been ejected from their Cook County Juvenile Detention Center classrooms because a judge downstairs said their chairs made too much noise returned this week after the grownups involved reached a truce.

The 500 students, who had to take lessons in their living quarters on the Friday before Christmas, returned to the classrooms above the courtrooms Monday when the school's winter break ended. The adults, though, still haven't figured out how to fix the noise problem.

Briefly, it looked like old tennis balls on the legs of the chairs might be the answer, but obstacles shelved that suggestion. After meeting for hours Wednesday, adults involved in the dispute agreed to a detente while they look for other solutions.

"The hostility has subsided. We communicated openly and in a forthright manner and were able to agree something has to be done. What and how quickly remains to be worked out," said Judith Adams, principal for Nancy B. Jefferson Alternative School, the Chicago public school inside the juvenile detention center. Students there are awaiting court proceedings or serving sentences.

"There's a commitment to work with everyone involved to find a solution to the noise," said Jack Beary, a spokesman for the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center.

The meeting included Adams, Chicago Board of Education attorneys, representatives of the Cook County Circuit Court juvenile justice division, detention center staff and other county employees.

Cook County Circuit Court Judge Joseph Claps, who school officials said initiated the noise complaints last fall, did not attend, according to others present. Claps has said through a spokesperson that he does not want to comment.

The situation became so tense last fall that Claps hauled Adams and others into court in October and threatened them with contempt of court if they did not stop the noise.

After the students' ejection was reported in the Tribune, a number of people suggested school officials cut the racket by putting old tennis balls on the legs of the chairs and desks.

But the tennis balls won't work at Jefferson, Adams said, because they won't fit on the furniture. Besides, she said, they would have to be sealed so they could not be removed from the chairs and used as weapons.

"Because of our student population, we can't have things that can be thrown around," Adams said. "But we do appreciate all the suggestions."